Holy cow! Fans flock to meet ‘God with Us’ comic creator

CONCORD, CA (Apr. 13, 2025) — Mike Mikalatos, a former staffer of Flying Colors Comics, returned to his old stomping grounds April 5 to sign his new graphic novel, “God with Us: Bible Stories on the Road to Emmaus,” and, in turn, make a few new friends.

Mikalatos lived in Concord for about 15 years, working at the comics store for about three years. He saw his share of comic book creators signing their works for legions of loyal readers, so he said it was “amazing” to now be on the other side of the table.

“Blessings all around,” he said of the community that makes up comics, from the writers to the illustrators and even the readers who come together for this kind of storytelling. “Nice to meet with friends you haven’t met yet,” he added.

While acknowledging the challenge of getting comics with a faith element published and vying for eyes in the medium, he noted that spirituality has been incorporated in such stories dating back to the 1960s and even featured in the Archie series of the 1970s.

Martinez resident Mike Dunn, a newcomer to the genre, was excited to read the offering and see how it might present things in a different light. “I dig it.”

Cornerstone Church Pastor Adrian Tsingaris of Pleasant Hill, a regular patron of Flying Colors Comics, shared that enthusiasm. “I think it goes along with wrestling with issues – is something good or evil and is it as simple as that or more complex?”

David Scholz

David Scholz is back in journalism as a freelance writer and photographer after nearly two decades in education. Prior to moving into teaching in 2000, he worked as a full-time journalist since 1988 for rural community and small daily newspapers in Central Ohio and Northern Nevada, and later in California with The Business Journal in Fresno and dailies in the Bay Area, including The Oakland Tribune and The San Francisco Chronicle. More recently Scholz also worked in an editing, writing, and page layout role with the Rossmoor News.